


His Kryptonite

by AlexisTerra



Series: Superhero Soulmates AU [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics), Justice League - All Media Types, Superman - All Media Types, The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Imagines, Multi, Reader (you) - Freeform, Soulmates, alternatre universe, imagine, reader - Freeform, you - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-04-09
Packaged: 2020-01-07 06:07:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18404684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexisTerra/pseuds/AlexisTerra
Summary: When you live in a world full of superheroes, there are worst things than metahuman villains, invading aliens, and psychotic clowns. One of them is having a soulmate.Some say it’s better because your other half is easier to find, but they’re not the one who has a hero or a villain for a soulmate. You do.





	1. Chapter 1

You're one of the unlucky ones. You got a physical empathy link. You don't feel the pain your soulmate feels but your body experiences it. You wear their wounds and scars.

Except there are never any scars. You only get the occasional bruises and scratches that quickly disappear, like they were never there. That's how you know your soul mate has powers.

This should've put your mind at ease, if not for the fact that you don't get to share their super healing.

"Y/N, are you OK?" your friend asked as she pointed at your finger. You accidentally cut yourself with a kitchen knife and blood was still trickling down your finger.

"I don't understand. Why aren't I healing?"

That was the moment when you realize your soulmate is in danger.

You've been careful ever since then. Incredibly conscious of your surroundings and meticulous when it comes to people that could do you harm. But safety is never a stable thing in a universe with heroes. Even they can't protect you from natural calamities like an earthquake.

"Y/N!"

Too late you realize as your co-worker tries to warn you. The metal beam falls on you and you black out. Your last thoughts are to your soulmate and hope the physical empathy link doesn't go as deep as death.

When you wake up, you wince at the pain and examine the wide bandage plastered onto your side. You remembered running into a protruding metal pole when you tried to flee from the beam. But what really makes you flinch is the TV inside your hospital room.

The news is on and they're replaying a clip of Justice League members cleaning up one of the buildings that the earthquake destroyed. The camera zooms in on Superman lifting a whole cinder block when Wonder Woman suddenly points to his stained costume.

You watch the camera zoom in as Superman looks down at his bleeding side.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Superman's S/O is a liability to the League and to his life.

You watch the camera zoom in as Superman looks down at his bleeding side.

There's a collective hush in the Watchtower after the clean-up of the earthquake. Everyone's gathered in the command center where all eyes are constantly shifting from the view of the Earth to Superman's bandaged side.

"Has this ever happened before?" Flash asks, finally breaking the silence. He rubs his arm as he feels the red glow of the numbers underneath his suit. "I mean, a hero with a physical empathy link?"

No reply. The uneasiness in the room grows heavy.

"I know of a few," all eyes turned to Batman. "But not like this." Batman's eyes narrow when he meets Superman's, "You understand that this means she's a liability."

"Or he," Wonder Woman interjects and no one argues against her.

Superman lays out his hands, "That doesn't matter right now. She—or he, is obviously in danger at the moment. This could be a stab wound—"

"It's not," Black Canary stands from her chair, "We inspected your wound. It looks like she —he —" Black Canary quickly shakes her head and takes a quick breath, "they were pierced by a metal pole that used in construction. Probably a victim of the earthquake."

"Victim?" Captain Marvel croaks.

"They're still alive, Captain Marvel," Hawkgirl assures him and points to Superman, "Or Superman wouldn't be—" she quickly stops herself and the room suffocates from the quiet once again.

Zatara floats closer to the center, away from the windows, "We're not even sure if the link is that deep. We've never had a civilian share a link with someone who has accelerated healing."

"Ugh," Flash groans and slumps into his seat. "I've always hated these links. There's never any scientific foundation we can base the selection on. Don't even get me started on the whole ethereal exchange with the empathy links and subconscious—"

"Flash," Wonder Woman calls out. "This is not the time."

"She's right," Batman walks away from the glass window and approaches Superman near the door. All eyes turn to the two of them. "Right now, we need to find them and detain them."

"Detain them?" Superman's voice is guarded, "They're not a criminal, Batman."

"I'm not saying they are but we have to be certain—"

"I'm sure," Superman gestures to his wound. "If they were then I should've gotten wounds in the past, but I didn't. This is the first time they've ever been hurt—"

"Or messed up on the job," Batman's voice was monotone but his words were provoking a primal instinct in Superman, an instinct to protect.

"We're not detaining them," Superman turns to fully face Batman, "Just because my lifeline is connected to theirs—"

"That's precisely why we should. All of your enemies know you share a link with someone now, and they're going to use this against you," Batman takes a step forward and narrows his eyes at Superman, "For their safety as well, we need to keep them under our protection."

Superman grits his teeth, "We. Are. Not. Detaining. Anyone."

There's an overbearing pressure inside the room as all members consider which action to take. They've found a lot of heroes with these links but none as dire as this. The physical empathy link has always been the rarest. So rare that no one would have ever thought it could be used as a weapon against one of the founding members of the Justice League.

Black Canary sighs, "Let's postpone this discussion until tomorrow. We all need rest after today."

All the members agree while they stand up from their chairs and head for the main door. They walk by as Batman and Superman continue their stand-off by the door. Finally, as half the room empties out, without another word, Batman follows them out of the room.

Black Canary approaches Superman, "You know he means well, and I know he's going to try to look for her —them."

"If he doesn't already know where they are," Superman stares out at the Earth. "I have to get to them before Batman does."

"Good luck," Canary's eyebrows furrow as she follows his gaze, "Because after that broadcast today, everybody in the world knows how to find your soulmate."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Superman can't find his S/O

"After that broadcast today, everybody in the world knows how to find your soulmate."

Black Canary's words seem to echo all the way to Earth because you've locked yourself inside your apartment and refuse to go out.

You had yourself quickly released from the hospital as soon as that clip was shown. You know everybody would be looking for you. You didn't even use your health insurance to pay. You used whatever money you had left and went straight home. You couldn't risk it.

You slump against your door and lift up your shirt. The bandage was seeping red and your sides hurt. You groan as you wheel yourself towards the bathroom to clean your wound.

You bring the medical kit to the living room and turn on the TV.

"—assured that the League has ." The first thing you see is Black Canary at the front of the JLA headquarters in DC. You turn the volume up.

A reporter points her mic at the blonde hero, "Black Canary, is it true that Superman has a physical empathy link?"

"We're not —"

"And they're saying it's with a civilian," another reported interjects.

"Has this ever happened before?" and another.

"Does that mean Superman's life is in danger?"

You turn off the TV and sit down on the floor. You press one hand on your temple while the other lifted up your shirt so it's not touching your fresh wound.

"He's in danger," you sigh to no one.

You lay yourself down onto the floor. You've finished cleaning but it's still seeping through the fresh bandage. You close your eyes and picture Superman soaring through the air, with his side bleeding.

You groan and cover your eyes with your free arm. You force your eyes shut to hold off the tears. It's too overwhelming. Being a tether to someone's life. Someone who saves other people's lives. Someone who brings hope to the world.

Someone whose heart will stop beating when yours stop.

You can't hold the tears anymore and they cascade down your cheeks. You smile bitterly in your living room, because you haven't even marveled at the fact that your soulmate is Superman. The Superman of Metropolis.

You bite your lips, "I'm sorry." This is nothing to celebrate about and you cry harder. "Please find me, Superman."

Superman stops mid-flight. He turns his head to the side, sure that he heard something. Somebody's voice that's calling out to him.

There's another voice. He quickly flies to another building and hovers in front of a fire escape. There's a woman waving at him.

"I knew you'd come!"

Superman eyes the woman with care, "Are you.."

"Oh," the woman quickly lifts up her shirt and shows an appendage wrapped around her side. "Does this answer your question?"

Superman's breathing stops. He stares at the excited woman in the fire escape. She seemed too happy and on a high. Not what Superman expected out of a victim from an earthquake.

"What's wrong, hot stuff? Don't you want to come down and meet your soulmate?" she winks at him.

Superman's instinct quickly kicks in and he uses his X-ray vision to peer into the bandage. No wound.

He quickly darts off into the sky as the woman loudly calls him back.

Superman scowls into the air, "Another one—One more fake and I'll—Ugh."

He stops mid-air, at an altitude too high even for planes. He can still hear the voices in the city, all calling out to him. Telling him they're his soulmate.

He touches his uniform where the wound is. It's bleeding again. His scowl quickly turns into a frown. They're in danger.

He wills himself to focus. There has to be a voice that's different. Different from the eager ones.

"Superman, I'm here!"

"Your soulmate's at Jerry's Diner, Superman!"

"Who do you think Superman's soulmate is?"

"Superman, please.."

"I think we've tracked Superman's soulmate, boss."

His concentration quickly shifts. He's running out of time.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You find yourself kidnapped.

He’s running out of time.

Your head is spinning and you can feel velvet carpet against your cheek. The soft material tickles your skin and it snaps you awake when you realize your apartment doesn’t have carpet.

You quickly push yourself off the ground, earning that vertigo feeling in your skull. You caress your head as you wait for the spinning to settle.

Slowly, you examine what’s in front of you and notice a double wooden door. The walls of the room was dark brown which complemented the serious atmosphere of the room. You can feel the soft glow of dusk from the windows behind you. You slowly turn around and tense at the sight of the man leaning against his table.

“Lex.. L-Luthor?”

He gives you a small smile, “It’s nice to know they didn’t give you a concussion.”

“Th-they—“ your eyes widen as your memories flood back.

You were lying on the floor in your apartment and you hadn’t realized that you fell asleep. You were forced awake by the loud sound from the hallway. You stood up to investigate but the moment you saw your door, it was forced open and three men in ski masks suddenly pointed at you.

You don’t even remember what they shouted. All you remember were your legs running towards your living room window. Your upper torso was already out of the window when two arms grabbed you and pulled you back inside. Another hand quickly covered your mouth before you could scream for help.

“Oi! Where’s the cloth?!”

“It’s here! It’s here—“

“She’s squirming too much. Hurry!” You could hear frames fall off the wall as you pushed against one man’s hold.

“Ah! Enough with this!”

You didn’t see it but you felt your own paperweight hit you against the base of your head before you blacked out.

Your hands quickly trace the swelling bump and glare at Lex, “You had me kidnapped!”

He looks at you and takes you in regard before pursing his lips, “I didn’t know their methods would be so.. barbaric.” Luthor sighs as he pushes himself off his desk and slips a hand in his blazer pocket, “Trust me, I only wanted you here for your best interest as Superman’s soulmate.”

Your eyes narrow at his words and you push yourself off the ground, “Best interest? I’m not dumb like the rest of the world, Luthor. I know who you are to Superman.”

He gives no expression as he watches you. You stare at him until he smirks, “It’s nice to know Superman talks about me.” He places his other hand in his pocket as well and smiles at you, “Tell me, have you met Superman?”

You wince. Lex sees it and his smile gets bigger.

“He hasn’t found you, has he?”

You continue to stare at Lex, desperate to keep up the appearance that it didn’t bother you. That Superman’s failure to answer your calls wasn’t what scared you more than standing in front of his arch enemy. You force yourself to steady your voice, “What do you want?”

His smile didn’t leave his face and he takes a couple of steps towards you, “Like I said, I only have your best interest in mind.”

He’s closer now and you can feel the swelling at the back of your head. You will yourself not to show the pain and narrow your eyes even more. “But not Superman’s,” you state.

He stops in front of you, a few inches away but enough to have to lower his gaze towards you. His lips momentarily purse before he turns to the side and takes a few steps, “It could be.”

Before you could respond, he stops walking and turns back to you, frowning, “Have you ever met with the Fate Doctors?”

You stare at him in silence. When you were younger you thought you were one of the few that didn’t have the links. You never had the need to go to the Fate Doctors. Everybody knows what happens with physical empathy links.

Lex looks you over and purses his lips, “I guess not.” He starts to leisurely pace in front of you, “The Fate Doctors don’t appear to us; the politicians, the Justice League, the armed forces—“

“The criminals.”

He glares at you for a moment before he turns away and continues his pacing, “They believe we’ll mess with the links, alter them, control them..” He lets his words trail after silence as your eyes widen.

“Can you.. can you really do that?” He turns to you with a smirk and it takes everything inside of you not to shiver. “Can you control the links?”

“In theory, yes. They think we’ll want to use the links as weapons and a way to control the citizens, the complete opposite of their original feat when they introduced the links,” he faces you fully and replaces his smirk with a business-like expression, “But that’s what the government wants.”

You stare at him, your eyes still wide and you force yourself to swallow a lump forming in your throat, “And what do you want?”

His expression doesn’t change but his hands leave his pockets as he approaches you, “What I want is also what every superhero, villain and citizen wants..” He stands in front of you, forcing you to look up at him, “To get rid of it."


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Superman finally meets you.

“To get rid of it.”

You quickly take a step back and suddenly the pain from your head and your side is numb. You stare at Lex wide-eyed as he continues to address you with a professional expression.

“Now you know why it could be in Superman’s best interest.”

You’re startled, stunned by his words. Your voice comes out like a whisper, almost afraid to be answered, “Why.. what do you mean?”

Lex frowns at you, “Oh, dear. If he wanted you, he would’ve tried to save you by now but he hasn’t.”

You feel your chest tighten and you wonder if you’re injured there as well. Your hand instinctively palms over your chest and grip your shirt. You stare at Lex.

“He doesn’t love you.”

He’s glaring at you. One of his fists is clenched by his side. He watches you intently as you process every word.

How could he love you? He doesn’t know you? He’s never met you? You’re just someone linked to him by fate. Obligated to connect with you without his consent. How can he possibly have feelings for you apart from loathing?

Lex watches you palm the wound on your side. He turns away.

“No one truly loves their soulmate,” he calls out as he walks towards the door. “How can anyone call it love if it’s forced.”

You slowly lower yourself to the floor. It suddenly takes too much effort to stand. You can’t even bear to turn to Lex as he reaches the door of the room. You almost don’t even hear the ventilation shaft break open from above.

Batman swoops down and lands right beside you. He protectively spreads his cape around you and forces you up, making your head spin.

Your head tilts to the side, suddenly wishing you’re lying down and numb against your bed. Your body slumps against Batman’s solid frame.

You can barely make out his face but he looks as if he’s turned towards Lex.

“I should have you arrested for breaking and entering.”

“What’s your endgame, Luthor?” Batman’s voice was deep and heavily graveled, distorted and terrifying.

“I’m doing the whole world a favor, Batman.”

“Kidnapping people and forcibly taking away their links? How is that a favor to anyone?”

There’s a brief silence before Lex’s professional tone answers back, “You’ll see.” The door opens and you hear another person walk in. A woman in heels. “Ah, Mercy. This must be important since you’re disturbing a meeting.”

“Thawne called.”

Another brief silence before Lex speaks again, “Well, Batman. I believe we have other soulmates to seek out. Best of luck to both of us.”

You hear the closing of a door before everything turns black and fast.

Superman bursts through the doors of the Justice League Headquarters and your eyes can’t believe it. He immediately spots you and everything Batman has asked you is suddenly forgotten.

After all this time, you’re finally meeting your soulmate and he looks so relieved. He smiles at you, but before you could smile back, Batman leaves you and approaches him.

“You found her,” Superman sounded so relieved. It almost made you jump out of your seat.

“Luthor had her kidnapped,” Batman turns to you and he finds you watching them intently. He turns back to Superman and points to a farther spot in the room.

Superman looks at him with a frown. But Batman walks away and he has no choice but to follow. You see him forcibly urge himself not to steal another glance at you.

You can feel your heart quicken its pace. You can’t hear them anymore but your minds feels too muddled to even try. Superman is in the same room as you. Ever since the accident you’ve been too worried for his life that you never got the chance to question your feelings.

Do you want to be his soulmate?

Does he want you as his soulmate?

Or did he just see you as a danger to his own life?

You quickly press your hand against your side and feel a sting. Your wound was opened again when Batman took you to the Justice League Headquarters. You were patched up and given pain medicine but it still hasn’t kicked in.

As you gently pull your hand away from your wound, you see Batman point to Superman’s side. You follow Superman’s gaze and find a stain on his shirt. You watch Superman lift up his shirt and tense. There’s no wound.

He suddenly turns to you and your eyes lock. His eyes are wide and his eyebrows are raised and slowly furrowing together, as if he’s asking you why he doesn’t have a wound.

He turns to Batman as the man in black pats his shoulder and leaves the headquarters. He leaves you and Superman alone.

You’re frozen to your seat as Superman shuffles his feet before he floats over towards you.

“Uh, hey, you’re Y/N…” You give him a nod and he continues, “Batman told me..” he rubs the back of his neck as he floats down to stand on the floor, “what happened. I’m sorry Lex Luthor kidnapped you. It’s all my fault—“

“No,” you stammer, “it’s not. It was mine. I’m the one who..” you both look towards your patched side and let your sentence go unfinished. You turn back to him to stare at his stained shirt. “You’re not.. wounded.”

Superman purses his lips and looks down, “I know. I’m as surprised as you.” You watch his face and he’s glaring at the floor, “Batman said Lex Luthor stole your— our link.”

You cringe. Suddenly Lex’s words are haunting you and it’s making you grip the armrests of your chair.

Superman looks up and watches you, waiting for you to say something. What does he want you to say? Does he want you to talk about what Luthor did to you? You don’t even know. He just talked. Your grip on the armrests tightens. Or does he want you to tell him, to confirm to him that you’re not soulmates anymore.

Your voice comes out strained but louder than a whisper, “We’re not soulmates anymore?” It wasn’t supposed to come out as a question that sounded so desperate and sad. You bite your lip in reprimand.

You watch him as he stares at you. His eyes are soft and his eyebrows are slowly knitting together. His words come out in a rush, “We’re not linked anymore.”

You quickly look down. Your own eyebrows are knitted but your eyes are narrowed at the floor, “I guess not.”

He replies to you with silence. You watch his feet that are firmly rooted on the floor until they start moving away from you. You choke back a sudden sob.

“Y/N.”

His voice makes you look up. He’s standing a few steps away from you, “Batman said I should tell you that I’ve been looking for you all this time.” Superman takes a step back towards you, “That I’ve been worried ever since the earthquake about your safety instead of mine.” He laughs, “He wanted me to make sure that you know I was ‘acting unprofessionally’ for your sake.”

His change in mood didn’t comfort you. You furrowed your eyebrows, “Batman apologized to me. He told me the reason why you didn’t find me first.”

Superman’s eyes narrow before he throws his head back in frustration, “Ugh! I can’t believe him. So he did throw me off.” He turns back to you, “He led me to another person, making me believe they’re my soulmate. When I called him he asked me to stay there until he sends me your location or else I’d never find you. I had no choice.”

Batman didn’t give you that much information. All he said was that Superman was preoccupied with a mission he gave him.

You watch Superman as he slowly turns to the side but steps forward until he’s back where he stood before you. You’ve never seen a superhero act so.. shy.

Suddenly he looks back to you and he’s smiling, “I think I heard your voice after the accident, asking me to come and search for you—“

“ ‘Please, find me.’ “

His eyes widen for a moment before they turn half-lidded, “Yeah. That was definitely you.”

You can feel your heart quicken in pace. Superman’s softly smiling and looking at you.

“I’m glad you’re safe now. I was so worried you’d be in danger just because you’re linked to me.”

You quickly shake your head and stand up, “You’re the man of steel. You were in danger because you were linked to me.”

He scoffs and hearing that makes you smile, you don’t even know why. “If you were linked to another civilian, this wouldn’t have happened. Having a physical empathy link wouldn’t have been a big deal.”

“That’s true,” you approach him, “To be honest, I’m relieved that our link is gone.” His smiles leaves him, “I don’t have to worry about endangering the whole world if I sprain my foot.”

He laughs at that and you’re glad you said it. “I’m actually impressed,” he confesses, “and a bit disappointed that I never got to experience what that’s like.”

You roll your eyes at him. It was the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever heard, “Now I’m kind of disappointed the link’s gone.”

He gives you a small smirk before he smiles again, “Would you like me to take you home? You’ve had quite a day.”

As soon as he said it, the fatigue hits your body in one go and you wish you could just sleep in the chair. But Superman’s standing in front of you and offering to take you home. You smile at him, “You have a car?”

He gives you an incredulous look, “Serious?” You grin at him and he shakes his head. “After everything, the least I can do is fly you home.”


End file.
